The processing office bears the responsibility for determining whether the applicant is a member of the class or not. Once the processing office determines this, the principal applicant and the family members of the principal applicant would need to undergo the prescribed criminal and security checks. This is regardless of whether the family members are accompanying or not.

The authorities strongly encourage applicants to submit police certificates up front along with their applications. Sometimes, the applicants might not include their police certificates along with their applications. In this scenario, the processing office would need to request a police certificate for the applicant’s current country of residence. In addition, it would need to request a police certificate for any country in which the applicant has resided for six months or more. For more details on this, refer to Appendix A.

The authorities require the principal applicant and all the dependents of the principal applicant to undergo the prescribed medical examinations upfront. Thereafter, the principal applicant would need to submit the medical results along with their initial applications. On receiving these medical results, the processing office would need to verify that these results continue to be valid. In some cases, the processing office might find that the medical results are not valid. In this scenario, the processing office would need to request the principal applicant to undergo a new medical examination.

It is worth highlighting that the authorities would not be able to grant permanent residence to applicants in case the applicants or any of their family members are found to be inadmissible. Situations could arise where the officers might be processing the principal applicant and the principal applicant’s family members concurrently. This would typically be the case when the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville (CPC-V) and a visa office process the principal applicant and the principal applicant’s family members concurrently. In this scenario, the authorities would not be able to make a final decision until they have determined that all the applicants are not inadmissible first.

For more details on the process for determining admissibility, officers would need to refer to ENF 2 / OP 18 – Evaluating Inadmissibility.

Officers might need to refer to the provisions specified in R190 as well. This section carries details about:

Visa Exemption – Nationality

A foreign national remains exempt from the requirement of obtaining a temporary resident visa if the individual:

• Is a citizen of Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Samoa, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sweden or Switzerland or,

• Is:

  • A British citizen

  • A British overseas citizen who is re-admissible to the United Kingdom or,

  • A citizen of a British overseas territory who has derived that citizenship via birth, descent, naturalisation or registration in one of the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Island, Saint Helena or Turks and Caicos Islands or,

• Is a national of the United States of America or a person who has received lawful admission to the United States for permanent residence

Visa Exemption – Documents

A foreign national remains exempt from the requirements of having to obtain a temporary resident visa if the individual:

• Holds a passport that contains a diplomatic acceptance, a consular acceptance or an official acceptance issued by the Chief of Protocol for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on behalf of the Government of Canada and:

  • Is a properly accredited diplomat, consular officer, representative or official of a country other than Canada, of the United Nations or any of its agencies or of any international organisation of which Canada is a member

• Holds a passport or travel document issued by the Holy See

• Holds a national Israeli passport

• Holds a passport issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China

• Holds a passport issued by the United Kingdom to a British National (Overseas) as a person born, naturalised or registered in Hong Kong

  • Holds a passport issued by the United Kingdom to a British Subject that contains the observation that the holder has the right of abode in the United Kingdom or,

• Holds an ordinary passport issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan that includes the personal identification number of the individual

Visa Exemption – The Purpose of Entry

A foreign national remains exempted from the requirement of having to obtain a temporary resident visa if the individual seeks to enter and remain in Canada purely:

• Subject to an agreement between Canada and one or more foreign countries respecting the obligation to hold such a visa

  • As a member of a crew of a means of transportation other than a vessel or to become a member of a crew of a means of transportation other than a vessel or,

  • To transit through Canada after working (or to work) as a member of a crew of a means of transportation other than a vessel, as log as they possess a ticket for departure from Canada within 24 hours after the arrival in Canada

• To transit through Canada as a passenger on a flight stopping in Canada for the sole purpose of refuelling and:

  • If they possess the documents required for entering the United States and the flight is bound for that country or,

  • If they received lawful admission to the United States and the flight originated in that country

  • For transiting via Canada as a passenger on a flight which, owing to an emergency or any other unforeseen circumstances, needs to make an unscheduled stop in Canada

• To transit through Canada as a passenger on a flight if the individual:

  • Obtains transportation via a commercial transporter and there is a memorandum of understanding (referred to subsequently in this section) in effect between the Minister and the commercial transporter concerning the transit of passengers through Canada without a Canadian visa

  • Has a passport or travel document issued by the country of which the individual is a citizen or a national and that country’s name appears on the memorandum of understanding and,

  • Possesses any visa required to enter the country of destination

• To carry out various official duties as a member of the armed forces of a country that is a designated state for the purposes of the Visiting Forces Act, unless they have received the designation under that Act as a civilian component of those armed forces

• To re-enter Canada following a visit solely to the United States or St. Pierre and Miquelon, if the individual:

  • Held a study permit or a work permit issued before they left Canada on such a visit or had the authorisation for entering and remaining in Canada as a temporary resident

  • Returns to Canada by the end of the period initially authorised for their stay or any extension to it

• To conduct inspections of the flight operation procedures or cabin safety of a commercial air carrier that operates international flights, if the individual is a civil aviation inspector or a national aeronautical authority and possess valid documentation that attests to this or,

• To take part as an accredited representative or as an advisor to an aviation accident or incident investigation conducted under the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act, if the individual possesses valid documentation that attests to this

Visa Exemption – Crew Member

A foreign national, who is a member of a crew and who comes to Canada by a vessel, remains exempt from the requirement of obtaining a temporary resident visa if the individual seeks:

• To enter Canada as a member of the crew of the vessel and,

• To remain in Canada solely as a member of the crew of that vessel or any other vessel

The Content of the Memorandum of Understanding

Certain text given earlier in the section titled ‘Visa Exemption – The Purpose of Entry’ referred to a memorandum of understanding. This memorandum of understanding would need to include the provisions that respect:

• The countries to which the memorandum of understanding applies

• The scheduled flights to which the memorandum of understanding applies and,

• The commercial transporter’s obligation to control the movement of in-transit passengers

 Read more about The Immigration Medical Examination (IME)